Alphabets of Africa

KENYA

SWAHILI (BANTU)

PHONEMES AND ORTHOGRAPHIC SYMBOLS

EXAMPLES

ivi

p

Ibl

b

N

t

/d/

d

/t!/

ch, c

hi

J

N

k

/g/

g

/m/

m

/mb/

mb

Imwl

mv

/n/

n

/nd/

nd

/nz/

nz

1^1

ny

Inl

nj

Ir^l

ng'

imi

ng

*th, dh, kh, and gh are found in Arabic loanwords only.

/i/

/8/

/v/

V

/s/

s

/J/

sh

/z/

z

N

I

M

r

M

kh*

W

gh*

/e/

th*

/8/

dh*

/h/

h

/w/

w

/y/

y

/u/

u

/o/

o

/a/

Any sequence of two like or unlike vowels is to be interpreted as
two separate syllables.

Palatalization: CyV
Labialization: CwV

Tone:

Swahili is not a tone language but has predictable stress on the
penultimate syllable of every polysyllabic word.

mpaka
barua
chumvi
dada
dhahabu
pete
fagio
mgeni
lugha
homa
ndizi
jembe
kikombe
lugha
m meza
mb mbegu
mv mvua
n nazi
ndizi
nguo
ng'ombe
njaa
nyoka
nzige
ndoto
paka
rafiki
sikio
shamba
twiga
hadithi
ndugu
viazi
wimbo
yai
mzigo

nd

ng

ng'

nj

ny

boundary

letter

salt

sister

gold

ring

broom

guest

language

fever

banana

hoe

cup

language

table

seeds

rain

coconut

banana

clothes

cow

hunger

snake

locust

dream

cat

friend

ear

plantation

giraffe

story

brother

potatoes

song

egg

luggage

ALPHABET

a b ch d dh e f g gh h i j k kh 1 m mb mv n nd ng
ng' nj ny nz o p r s sh t th u V w y z

number of graphemes 37

Alphabets of Afrtea

edited by

Published by UNESCO Regional Office in Dakar (D1<£DA)
12, Avenue Roume,B.P 3311, Dakar, Senegal

Rhonda L. Hartell isbn : 92-9091-020-3 © unesco 1993

Printed by BREDA Press

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